FUR FACTS 19 



At that time a coon skin, thrown on the counter in a store, would 

 always command its fixed value for any goods in the store, and a 

 bundle of coon skins, might be presented in payment for any com- 

 modity or service. 



Plenty of furs and peltries meant plenty of currency, and this, 

 in turn, meant increased imports of necessaries and comforts up the 

 Mississippi from New Orleans or down the Ohio from Philadelphia 

 and Pittsburg. Furs and skins had a fairly steady value. Prime, 

 medium beaver was always worth $5.00 a skin; otter $5.00; buffalo 

 $8.00; grizzly bear $10.00; black bear $4.00; lynx $2.00; fox $1.00; 

 raccoon 40c and mink 40c. 



The goods traded to the savages for their furs were cheap cloth, 

 high colored red being the favorite, beads and trinkets, guns, powder 

 and lead and when a lot of these were disposed of, and choice beaver, 

 otter, and lynx furs, or deer skins, bear skins and buffalo robes re- 

 ceived in return, there was a good profit for the trader. 



After a century and a half of unrivaled success, St. Louis fur 

 traders gradually adapted themselves to new conditions. The 

 American Fur Company wound up its business about the time of the 

 Civil War, as there was no longer a trade with the Indians, they 

 having gradually disappeared from the plains and valleys of the upper 

 Missouri. The buffalo, black, cinnamon and grizzly bear moved 

 away before the encroachments of the railroads and the increasing 

 population and soon the fur trade settled down to a regular trade in 

 the pelts of smaller fur-bearers. 



Following the Civil War representatives of the St. Louis houses 

 traversed the Mississippi Valley, the mountains and the coast, 

 wherever there was fur production. Thus, St. Louis became the 

 concentrating point and a great primary fur market. 



In 1877 there were 12,386 bundles of furs and peltries received 

 in St. Louis. Ten years later, in 1887, the receipts had increased 

 to 22,045 bundles. 



Now the bulk of all of the furs produced on the North American 

 continent come from within a radius of 600 miles of St. Louis, and 

 St. Louis is the center of the raw fur industry of the world. In 1877 

 there were 12,386 bundles of furs and peltries received in St. Louis. 

 In 1881, Robert Emmet Funsten, William Fitzhugh Funsten and 

 Johnson Funsten, came from Virginia and established Funsten Bros. 

 & Co., which firm eventually became the largest fur house in the 

 world. Through the efforts of this house and with the support of 

 other big fur traders, St. Louis became the largest fur market in 



